Fence-post.



PATENTED JUNE 26; 1906.

J. LUDWIGK.

FENGE POST.

APPLICATION FILED 31111.23. 1905.

UNITED STATES JAY LUDWICK, 0F GRAND TO GEOVHQBROESA'ML To BAYEA.LUDWIOK,

PATENT orrron.

FENCE-POST,

specificfiion. of Letters Patent.

Patented June 26, 1906.

Application filod- January 28, 1906. Serial No. 242,240.

To all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, JAY Lnnwrox, a citi-' zen of the United States,residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan,have invented a certain. new and useful Fence-Post, of whichthefollowing is a specification.

The objects of my invention are to provide a fence-post of simple,durable, and inexpene sive construction inw 'ch the fastening device ismade a part of the post and is so arranged that the wires will belockeddnhe wardly parallel 'wirie-retaining member is formed post andprevented from longitudinal move -ment when the wires are-stretched tautbetween the posts. A further object is to provide a fastening devicewhich positivel lock the wiresin position relative to the post withoutthe use of any additional fastening mechanism which is apart from thepost. A.- further object is to provide a metallic body to'the postsosha'pe d as to be of great strength'and durabilityand' to provideabody in whiehthe metal body portion is mounted that will prevent themetal from corroding or rusting whengit is placed in the ground. e I

My invention consists iii-certain details in the construction;arrangement, and combio nation of the various parts of the device theaccompanying it will be seen post is composed whereby the objectscontemplated are at-" tained, as hereinafter more full set-forth,pointed out in my claim, and il ustrated in I drawings, in which Figure1 1s a perspective view of the complete post. Fig. 2 is a frontelevation of the upper portion of the post. Fig. 3 is a plan. view ofthe post, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modified form of thepost.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, that the body portion of the ofa single iece of sheet metal so bent as to be substantially U-shap ed incross-section, having the back portion 10 therein and the two sideportions 11 and 12 at right angles to the back portion.-

These side portions sothat an openin The lower end of t are somedistance a art, is formed between t em. e body portion of the postismounted in the' base 13, which may be made of cemeiitor' other similarmaterial. This base is designed to be inserted in the ground after thepost-11 1c has been dug to '18 to form 'a wire-retaining the hammer andare prevent the metallic body portion from being rusted or corroded. Inthe front edge of the side 11 of the post is a slot 14, which leads fromthe extreme .front edge rearwardly at right angles to the front edge andthen downwith the front edge, so that a by said slot. For the sake ofconvenience I have numbered the lower extremity of the slot 14 by thenumeral 16. Leading from the ext'reme forward edge of the side 12 andnear the top portion thereof is the slot 17, which leads mwardl fromtheforward edge of the side 12, at rig t angles to said side, and thenupwardly a slight distance in a line parallel to the front edge of theside 12 to the point member 19. The

two slots 14 and 17 are so cut in the sides 11 and 12 that the point .18of the slot 17 will be oint 16 of theslot 14.

slightly lower than the The reason for this is o vious, for the wire is,first inserted in the slot 14 and is moved to the lower extremity ofsaid slot and is then inserted in the slot 17 and is drawn a ainst theupper'extremity of the slot 17." en

the wire is drawn-taut, there will be a slight bend ,in the wirebetweenthe points 16 and 18, so that the .wire will be maintained"securely to the post and against longitudinal v This is clearly illusorvertical movement. trated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, where the bend inthe wire is shown clearly. If it is found necessary to more securelyhold the wire in position relative to the post, the wireretainingmembers 15 and 1?) are struck with the wire, as is shown in Fig. 4,where the lower wire is thus maintained in position.

Above the slot 14 is a slot 20 similar to the slot 14 in the side 11.Above the slot 17 in the side 12 is a slot 21 similar to the slot 17 Theslots 20 and 21 are arranged in the same relative positions to eachother as are the driven inwardly against slots 14 and 17 in the side 12,and below the.

slot21 is a slot 22, which extends first inwardly at right anglesto thefront edge of the side 12 and then downwardly parallel with said frontedge to he point 23 to form the wire-retaining member 24. In the frontedge of the side 11 and some distance below the slot 20 is a slot 25,which extends first inwardly at right angles to the front edge and thenupwardly parallel with the front edge to each of the wires tobe used isa point 26 to form a Wire-retaining member 26%. These slots-are soarranged that the point 26 in the side 11 is slightly lower than thepoint 23 in the side 12. Thus it will be seen that the slots 22 and 25are exactly reversed from the slots and 21, The arrangement of theseslots 22 and 25 provide for th e'binding of the wire in the same way asthe slots 14 and 17, and on account of their arrangement in the sides 11and 12 the draft on the post will be in the opposite direction from thedraft on the post when the wires run through the slots above the slots22 and 25. Thereare two slots 27 and 28 similar to the slots 25 and 22,respectively, and immediately beneath'the slots 25 and 22. On account ofthe arrangement of the two lower sets of slots in the lower portion ofthe post, and assuming that the Wire is drawn taut, the position willhave substantially an even pull on it,'so that one; will be no tendencytoward causing the post to be moved by the drawing of the wires to aposition out of the vertical.

In practical use the part 13 isset. in the ground. The, top wire is theninserted in the slot 20 and then in the slot 21 and drawn taut, and, ifdesired, the wire is securely held by striking the wire-retainingmembers 15 and 19. A similar operation is repeated until passed throughthe post. With the slot thus arranged when the wire is placed inposition in both slots animals cannot raise it out of place or out ofslot, owing to the slots being reversed, nor can the animals press thewire downward and throw it out of the slots. In tightenin the wire bycompressing the protruding e ge in front of the slotson both edges ofthe post wearing oil of the wire by the action of. the wind isprevented. As will be rcadilynoticed by reference to Fig. 2, the pointof a slot in one side of the post-body is lower than the point of thecooperatingslot in the other side of the body,.while the point of thenext upper respectively;

higher than the point of the cooperating slot in the said other side ofthe'body. From this it follows that the portion of a fence-runnerintermediate the slots of the fi1stmen'tioned pair declines in onedirection, while the portioh of the alternate fence-runner intermediatethe slots of the second-mentioned pair terially advantageous, since onerunner tends to cant the post in one direction and the alternate runnertends to equally cant the post in the opposite direction, with theresult that the post is strongly maintained in an upright position, asis always desirable- I do not restrict myself to the particulararrangement of the tapered sides of the post, as it maybe made taperedboth on side and backthat is, the material may be wider at the bottomthan at the top on three sides, or only on two sides, or the sidesmay beparallel.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, therefore, is-

In a fence, runners, in combination with a post comprising a metal bodyportion, of U oppositely-disposed L-shaped slots in the edges of itssides receiving the runners; the point of one slotin one side beinglower than the point of the cooperating slot in the other side, and thepoint of the next upper slot in the first-mentionedside being higherthan the point of the cooperating slot in the said other side, wherebythat portion of one runner which is intermediate the sides of the postis causedto decline in one direction and the corresponding portion ofthe other runner is caused to decline in the opposite direction DesMoines, Iowa, August 3, 1904.

I JAY LUDWICK. Witnesses v T. J. EvELAND, ELLA OHMER.

declinesin the opposite direction. Thisisma,

'1 slot in the first-mentioned side of the body is shape in horizontalsection, ha'ving pairs of

